A Line To Cross
by Noitavlas
Summary: ONESHOT /KyouKao/ Read and Review please . . .


(A/N): Typing this is the only means for me to relax. Since "Mirror's Mirror" is kind of depressing, and "PARANOIA" is . . . Well, crazy. I decided to make another Ouran fic. KyouKao, as always~ And as all my fics for Ouran, this is for Shaj. Read and Review please~

Disclaimer: Characters do not belong to me, they are forever Bisco Hatori's.

Note: This is an AU. I'll let you guys find out for yourselves what their roles are~

"A Line To Cross"

By: Noitavlas

_I don't know how this all started . . . and it's scaring me how I don't even care. Everything just . . . happened_.

Kaoru stared at a pair of onyx eyes shielded by two glasses; one was the glass that was elegantly placed atop the bridge of a nose so that owner could see clearly and the other was a thick transparent wall that separated their atmospheres. "Kaoru? C'mon, man! I thought you wanted to play the drum machine thingy you always told me about?" Hikaru playfully smacked his brother's shoulder. "Let's go, Kao-chan! Let's show Hika-chan what you can do with your drumsticks!" Hunny tackled/hugged his friend hard enough to effectively pull Kaoru's attention to them. "Hunny-sempai, that wasn't very nice, my ribs still hurt from before, y'know." Kaoru reprimanded gently at his friend and winced as he felt the slight pain that was still present. "I'm so sorry, Kao-chan! I didn't mean to!" Hunny retracted himself quickly and that's when the water-works started. "I'll be heading in to get some tokens, you two hurry it up." Hikaru grumbled as he walked away.

"Oh, sempai, it didn't really hurt that much—r-really!" Kaoru began leading the small boy to a Mall bench. They were school mates; him, Hikaru and Hunny. But Hunny was older than both of them. Their class ended early, and they decided to hit the Mall before going back to their respective homes. Being neighbors with each other, they grew up to be close to one another. Even though Hunny was older than them—he was gentle and childlike most of the time. His height didn't help with his age either. Maybe that's why Hikaru had always bothered him, and bullied him until he cries. Kaoru, though born with Hikaru, was a different story. He had cared for the little boy as much as he cared for his twin brother. He was always the one to hush Hunny's tears after Hikaru has done his job. So, even though Kaoru was labeled as his Best Friend, his twin brother was his No. 1 Enemy. "A-are you sure, Kao-chan?" Hunny gratefully took a seat and looked at his best friend who kneeled in front of him. "Yes, I'm sure." Kaoru smiled at him with such radiance that he stopped crying and immediately took out a handkerchief before wiping his face. "Kao-chan, you don't want to sit?" he asked as he took notice of the other boy's lax position. "Ah, there's no more room, it's alright—I can talk to you better this way." Hunny nodded as he looked at the bench. There were four benches; all designed arching so that one could form a circle with them. In the middle of the benches stood a broad pillar similar to those that were scattered all over the Mall for foundation. "Ne, Kao-chan, do you think Hikaru hates me?" Hunny asked as he discreetly unblocked his nose. (Crying can build a lot of mucus in your nose, y'know. Wait—what? You're eating? OMG, I'm so sorry!) "No, I don't think he hates you." Kaoru sighed as he chanced a glance at the Arcade's opening. "It's just that—he has a bit of a difficulty in expressing his emotions." The young Hitachiin gave him another smile. "Shall we?" Hunny nodded and automatically took the red-head's offered hand before standing up. As they walked over to the Arcade, Hunny acted quite distracted. He kept bumping into people and in turn, it concerned Kaoru. When they reached the entrance, he held the little boy in place and asked him what was wrong. He was surprised with the answer he collected.

"Kao-chan, that Chef in the Pizzaria was following you with his eyes~"

"Kyouya, I'll take over—it's your break." Tamaki grinned at his dark friend as he washed his hand in preparation for handling food. "Okay." The Ootori answered curtly before handing the blonde a hand towel. "Kyouya?" Dark eyes met Indigo in inquiry. "Are you feeling well?" Tamaki made a move to check his dark-haired friend's temperature when he was immediately stopped. "I'm fine."

"But you look dazed—"

"Tamaki, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I'll be taking my break now." Kyouya took his toque off before walking away from the kitchen. The blonde chef watched his friend saunter away from him as he let his words drift to the distance between them. "Will you be alright for the rest of the day?"

Kyouya felt helpless in his situation. He sat on one of the chairs in the staff lounge and drank a bottle of water. There within the deepest part of his brain burned an image. An image he saw earlier in his shift. "Kyouya-sempai?" He turned to the source of the female voice and was met with his friend's girlfriend. Haruhi stood at the doorway of the staff lounge, untying her black apron. "You get break time, too?" He asked, remembering to talk. "Yeah, Renge took her shift early so that she could take the night off." She hung her used apron on their apron rack before making her way to the mini-fridge, grabbing herself a bottle of water for herself. She took a sit near Kyouya; close yet there was enough for personal space for the both of them. They were in comfortable conditions due to the fact that both of them knew Tamaki and that both knew that Kyouya was not into women (and Tamaki). "You seem troubled." She stated boldly as she always did. He sighed heavily before realizing that he was actually waiting for that fact to be stated. "I am." He replied simply. "Did Tamaki burn something again?" Bless Haruhi for such a forgiving attitude towards the blonde. "No, he didn't—and even if he's currently doing so, I won't be able to see since we're both here." He gave her a slight smile. She laughed at him. "We'll hear him though—trust him to keep quiet about it." They both laughed at the thought of hearing Tamaki's wails of 'help' from some burning Tamale. "But seriously—what's got you in that look?" He gave her a question of 'what-look' before leaning back on the chair and sighed.

"There was someone staring at me from the glass window at the kitchen earlier in my shift." He closed his eyes as he felt more that glimpsed at Haruhi's motion for him to continue. "I don't know—it's just. . . Well, I felt—I don't know, uncomfortable? Take any word that relates to that."

"Awkward?" The brunette played along.

"Yes." Kyouya answered with his eyes still closed, conjuring in his mind the image of the red-head he saw earlier from the Kitchen's glass window.

"Ill-at-ease?"

"Yes."

"Uneasy?"

"Aren't those two just the same? Yes."

"Embarrassed?"

"Yes."

"Unnerved?"

"Yes."

"Unpleasant?"

"Uh . . . No."

"Tricky?"

"Yes?"

"Distressing?"

"God, YES."

"Difficult?"

"Very."

Haruhi looked at her friend with a knowing smile. "Dazed?"

"Yes—damn it, I must've looked like an idiot. Tamaki's rubbing off on me."

She ignored the comment on her boyfriend. "Light-headed feeling coupled with a massage in the gut?"

This time Kyouya opened his eyes widely at the implication the brunette was on about.

"You can't mean—", "Congratulations, Kyouya, you actually fell in love at first sight."

The dark-haired youth barely heard the commotion in the kitchen. His brain didn't even register Haruhi's fleeing form. Because he knew, that she was somewhat correct.

A brightly colored, bold letter "D" flashed on the screen as Kaoru finished the song in the drum-machine. Hikaru laughed at him like the mean brother that he is, but offered to buy more tokens for practice.

"Kao-chan, what's wrong? You're usually very good at this." Hunny sat down beside his friend. "I don't know, Hunny-sempai." The Hitachiin answered honestly. "It's just that. . ."

Hunny's eyes suddenly sparkled with delight. "Kao-chan, could it be that you were distracted by that guy who was looking at you?" If Kaoru's blush wasn't enough answer to his question he doesn't know what else. The little blonde practically squealed in thrill whilst emitting randomly sized hearts. At the sight of the excited senior, the young twin couldn't help but feel the giddy as well. "I-it's just that—I think he's kind of . . . you know—"

"Handsome?" Hunny quipped.

Kaoru was about to disagree when he abruptly stopped. "What is it?" Hunny's mood dropped. "I . . ." Kaoru looked so disappointed that Hunny had to restrain himself from hugging him to death. "Kao-chan?"

"I can't remember his face."

Hunny gave him a funny look. "You stared at him." He said almost accusingly. "I did, b-but—" Kaoru gave him a distressed look. "I can't remember his face."

The small boy gave his friend a reproachful look before taking the red-head's hand and pulling him away from the Arcade bench. "W-where are you taking me?" Kaoru asked but did nothing to stop the older boy. "To see him." Hunny gave him a smile that would've made Buddha proud. "This time, memorize his face, Kao-chan."

Needless to say, Hikaru came back with a pocket full of token to an empty bench.

Haruhi can be just as conniving as the next guy can be when it comes to her friends. She cared about Kyouya just as much as her boyfriend does, and being the one whom he confided with such things, it was up to her to do something about it.

Tamaki sat on the kitchen's counter nursing his slightly burnt fingers. "Haruhiii…" he called to his girlfriend in his 'please-take-care-of-me' tone. "Aww, is the poor baby still hurting?" she cooed at him slightly mocking, making him blink in surprise. He didn't expect that in all honesty.

"H-Haruhi, are you okay?" he asked as slid down from the counter and walked to her side. She was cleaning the mess that he made during the 'accident'. "Of course~" She smiled sweetly at him. "W-why are you—I didn't stain anything, did I? Are you mad at me?" His look pleaded for explanation. As mean as she could get, Haruhi just couldn't bring herself to say 'no' to THAT face—so, with a sigh, she explained why Kyouya was acting like he did.

"Wait, so—he's in love?" Tamaki's eyes were wide as saucers.

"Shhh! Not so loud!" Haruhi glanced behind her to see if Kyouya just suddenly decided to walk out.

"We need to find this person, Tamaki. He should still be in the Mall. When's your next break?" She was in a hurry. It was a now or never situation—and what luck it was, too, that she thought of it since the twins and the little senior rarely go at the Mall in the mornings. They usually go on a week-end night.

"We're going to play Cupid!" The blonde whispered excitedly. She just had to grin to reflect the excitement. With a nod, she ushered him to get Mori into the plan.

Kaoru and Hunny stood in front of the glass window of the Pizzaria watching a tall man perform his skills at making fine dough. "Is that—", "That's not him." Hunny's awe for the tall man was snatched by the dejected tone in Kaoru's voice. "Kao-chan?" he called out, but he was only met with a fake smile. "It's alright, Hunny-sempai."

"Haruhi, do you mind explaining to me why my things are ready for travelling?" Kyouya gave his friend an aloof look. "Because you, my friend, are heading home to rest." She told him brightly. The dark-haired man shook his head gently. "I'm afraid I still have some time left—" but the brunette was already waving her hand. "No, you don't. Tamaki took your time so that we both could go home at the same time." She smiled at him. "Now, you have an early leave. Why don't you go on ahead and relax for a while? Maybe just go for a little stroll around the Mall or something?" He gave her a bewildered look before shaking his head. "Whatever, my head is too full for this." With a graceful move, he took his things from the petite woman and made his way to the locker room to change.

"Hunny-sempai, where did you run off to—and where's Kaoru?" Hikaru greeted as he hit a well-placed tap on the snare to finish. At such a short time, the older twin managed to teach himself to play like a pro. "He said he wasn't feeling well, he went home." The young senior was wearing a frown that made Hikaru uneasy. He was not used to seeing their friend so serious. "Hey,-" he tapped the little blonde's shoulder with a drum stick. "Wanna learn how to play drums?" and just like that, the little boy lit up like the 4th of July.

Tamaki whined a lot to Mori as Haruhi prayed that Kyouya took her advice and roamed the Mall. There was a high chance that he would meet his window watcher if he unconsciously scours the whole Mall for him. So, she prayed.

"Welcome~"

_Ah, customers. _She opened her eyes and was startled to see Mori with a blonde kid sitting on his shoulders. "I didn't know you work here, Takashi!" The small boy hugged Mori's head as if it was a Teddy bear. "Err, Mori-sempai?" Haruhi's questioning tone was enough for the tall man to figure out what she wanted to know. So, with a low and rusty voice he said: "He's my cousin."

Kyouya sighed again for the umpteenth time since he left his work that day. He didn't stroll around like the brunette wanted him to do—because he wasn't the strolling type of guy. So, to make use of his free time, he decided to go home. Being a student while working for experience wasn't a hard responsibility for him—but that doesn't mean that he doesn't have any homework waiting for him at home. With another sigh, he made a beeline to Coffee Bean to grab a cup to go.

Armed with his jacket, a cup of coffee, and his knapsack, Kyouya made his way to the taxi line. (Yes, we are talking about the line that is formed with people waiting for a cab—this is an AU) The line was quite long.

With another sigh, he sipped his coffee and waited. It was pretty dull. Not like some entertainment happens in the line everyday—it's just that this particular day feels more . . . depressing than the usual.

From somewhere in the line, someone's phone began to ring. He listened to the tune and recognized it as one of his favorite songs. 30 Seconds To Mars: Kings and Queens.

He blamed Fuyumi for buying him their album for his birthday.

No sooner that the song started the one in front of him started patting his shirt and pant pockets. "What could Hikaru want?" Kyouya heard the boy mumbled. It took him several long moments before he found his phone, but before he could answer it—it died. The Ootori gaze was transfixed on the boy's red-hair. _It's almost the same shade._ Kyouya thought as he unconsciously reached into his pocket. "Excuse me—" he called out before he could even think about it. And just like that, he found himself staring at the same golden eyes that stared at him earlier. "—you could . . . use my phone, if . . . if you want." His hand was offering his phone. Oddly enough, the boy didn't take it—but he stared with the same intensity as he did. "You . . ." The red-head said as he kept on staring at Kyouya. The cabs came in a long line making almost all of the people in the line disappear. They just stood there staring at each other—and they would've done it till the sun went down if it weren't for the guard that ushered them to the side away from the line so that people could get home without going through them as an obstacle course.

It took a while, but then again it doesn't matter. Kaoru smiled as he offered his hand to the dark-haired man. "My name is Kaoru."

"Hello, Kaoru—" Kyouya returned the pleasant smile. "My name is Kyouya. It's nice to meet you."

_And that's how we met without breaking the glass._

(A/N): This is a semi-true story.


End file.
